The state Senate wants to give local property taxpayers $6 billion in rebates and tax credits in 2007 and 2008, Majority Leader Joseph Bruno announced Wednesday.
"The number one priority of the Senate is to provide greater property-tax relief to the hardworking, overburdened taxpayers of New York State," Bruno said in a statement.
The proposal calls for refunding $2.6 billion in 2007 -- triple the amount of the approximately $875 million handed out before November's election -- and $3.4 billion in 2008. The $875 million in 2006 included $200 million for income tax credits in New York City, and those credits are included in the new plan. The rebates averaged about $175 for non-seniors and $300 for senior citizens in 2006, and they would increase to an average of $525 for non-seniors and $900 for seniors under the Senate plan.
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The money to fund the rebates would be taken out of the state's "sizable budget surplus," said Bruno, a Republican from Brunswick, Rensselaer County. He did not give specifics on how much the surplus is projected to be.
The state Division of Budget estimated early last month that the government would end the fiscal year with a $1.1 billion surplus.
Bruno's announcement came a day after the GOP-controlled Senate learned that it will lose one of its own, Sen. Michael Balboni, R-Nassau County. Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, has tapped Balboni to be deputy secretary for public safety in his administration. The GOP holds a 34-28 advantage in the Senate, and Balboni's seat could go to a Democrat in a special election.
Last week, Bruno announced that he was under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his outside business interests. Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, Orange County, has called for his resignation.
